Processing the trees into engineered products involves a number of steps. One of the steps is crushing young trees (stripped of branches) to obtain loose bundles of fibrous strands. The bundles of fibers are formed into mats of crushed fibers with the fibers being generally parallel. The mats may be dried. Resin may then be added as well as possibly other binding agents and the mat dried to eventually reach a target moisture content and density. After the fibers are formed into mats and before resin is added the mats must be processed to provide a uniform density of fibers across the mat.
The outer “jacket” of the log comprised of the wood fiber from the area just underneath the bark, is generally stronger, denser and more difficult to break down than the inner region. It would be desirable to break down or separate the fibers of the outer region first, prior to the log being crushed, so that a fiber bundle having a more uniform density can be obtained for downstream processing.